The Republicans made a big show of scaling back the RNC ahead of Hurricane Gustav's landfall.
The mere fact that such a drastic response seems appropriate is a searing indictment of 8 years of Bush rule. If the administration had a functional emergency management system, an intact national guard, and less well-deserved guilt about abandoning a major American city three years ago, the show could go on. The Southern governors and the president would be called away, the partisan rhetoric would be toned down, but the convention could continue.
Shame and dread are the real motives here. The Republicans are terrified that they'll be caught celebrating during another human-compounded natural disaster. If they could honestly say that the Bush Administration had taken all reasonable measures to safeguard the Gulf Coast, the public would be a lot more understanding. They're paralyzed because they know that they haven't.
Login Here
Share This
Spotlight


Support this site!
Keep
up with news
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Campaign Silo
Advanced search
RSS/XML Feed
Couldn’t happen to a better party. RIP.
Thank goodness for McCain/Bush and the GOP’s new found concern for hurricane victims. During Katrina while Americans were drowning, Bush appeared at a fundraiser with McCain and presented him a birthday cake. This time McCain, who is pretending to be president with all the fervor of a four year old playing dress up, decides the best way to help a potential disaster area is treat it as a photo op. To aid in the Gustav relief effort, perhaps the rest of the GOP conventioneers will pass out the left over purple heart band-aids they used last election honoring John Kerry’s military service.
Huuuuuuuuuu, you got that right!
Republicans are incapable of effective governance. Witness McSame’s choice of VP.
So blinded by a failed ideology…
FYI, Kojo Knamdi is now discussing the protest scene at the RNC in MSP on his weekday call-in show, including interviews with St. Paul city attorney and protest leader(s). Kojo works for public radio station WAMU in Washington DC, but you can listen online (several formats available) - either live or, once it becomes available, the archived recording - by going here.
Typo - it should read ‘Kojo Nnamdi (not Knamdi).
Letter to God
From Michael Moore
Dear God,
The other night, the Rev. James Dobson’s ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled.
I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson’s prayers — except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.
Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don’t blame You, I know You’re angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an ‘Act of God’ — when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You.
Some of us tried to help after Katrina hit, while Bush ate cake with McCain and twiddled his thumbs. I closed my office in New York and sent my entire staff down to New Orleans to help. I asked people on my website to contribute to the relief effort I organized — and I ended up sending over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies (collected from thousands of fans) to New Orleans while Bush’s FEMA ice trucks were still driving around Maine three weeks later.
But this past Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that the Republicans had begun making plans to possibly postpone the convention. The AP had reported that there were no shelters set up in New Orleans for this storm, and that the levee repairs have not been adequate. In other words, as the great Ronald Reagan would say, ‘There you go again!’
So the last thing John McCain and the Republicans needed was to have a split-screen on TVs across America: one side with Bush and McCain partying in St. Paul, and on the other side of the screen, live footage of their Republican administration screwing up once again while New Orleans drowns.
So, yes, You have scared the Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of them, and more than a few million of your followers tip their hats to You.
But now it appears that You haven’t been having just a little fun with Bush & Co. It appears that Hurricane Gustav is truly heading to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. We hear You, O Lord, loud and clear, just as we did when Rev. Falwell said You made 9/11 happen because of all those gays and abortions. We beseech You, O Merciful One, not to punish us again as Pat Robertson said You did by giving us Katrina because of America’s ‘wholesale slaughter of unborn children.’ His sentiments were echoed by other Republicans in 2005.
So this is my plea to you: Don’t do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven’t sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time — they are already patrolling the city streets. And, in a nod to I don’t know what, Bush’s head of FEMA has named a man to help manage the federal government’s response. His name is W. Michael Moore. I kid you not, heavenly Father. They have sent a man with both my name AND W’s to help save the Gulf Coast.
So please God, let the storm die out at sea. It’s done enough damage already. If you do this one favor for me, I promise not to invoke your name again. I’ll leave that to the followers of Rev. Dobson and to those gathering this week in St. Paul.
Your faithful servant and former seminarian,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. To all of God’s fellow children who are reading this, the city New Orleans has not yet recovered from Katrina. Please click here for a list of things you can do to help our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast. And, if you do live along the Gulf Coast, please take all necessary safety precautions immediately.